AMG One: 4 Years And Still Not Delivered

It seems AMG’s supercar is cursed with delays! Why?

The Mercedes-AMG One has been one of the most hotly anticipated cars in the world since people started talking about it back in 2017. That was four years ago now and just the other week, reports suggest that Mercedes-AMG will once again be delaying its release following several previous delays.

Said previous delays have been caused by teething issues with the engine and various other issues with actually getting the car to drive and be operated without the assistance of engineers. As we know, the One is meant to be a car like no other, going above and beyond supercar performance using a lot of Formula One technology.

Just like a Formula One car, the One is reportedly not easy to operate. In an interview with Jochen Hermann, the CTO of AMG, he said:

“when he (Lewis Hamilton) is coming out, there were like 10 or 12 people coming out who all ran to the car, everybody’s opening something, puts a screwdriver in, puts a laptop to the car, before you can actually start the car. With Project One, you turn the key and people expect the car to start. So we had to put software for (the equivalent of) 10 or 12 race engineers into the coding. I think that was something that was really underestimated.”

Here, Hermann is talking about the time he visited the Formula One test team in November last year and explains just how involved it is even to get the car started. Unless each customer’s purchase comes with 10 or 12 engineers, this is a problem. A lot of new software had to be created in order to have the car in a usable state, without the need of engineers to make what sounds like a 100-point check before the car can even start and Hermann also explicitly said that the complexity of the car was ‘really underestimated’.

So now, here we are at the end of 2021 when AMG One deliveries were expected to begin. Instead of initial deliveries, instead, we have rumours of yet another delay, one that Mercedes-AMG has not commented on. There are reports that the car will now be expected to be delivered in Q1 2022, which isn’t so bad considering the delay that was announced in 2019 that pushed the car back a whole 2 years!

The flagship car has had issues with meeting new emission regulations, engine idling, software issues and God knows what else. Here’s to hoping that the AMG One makes its way out of development hell and into the hands of enthusiasts that will hopefully share the car with the world rather than put it into humidity-controlled storage!

After four years of being ‘almost there’ we really hope the One lives up to expectations.

Let us know your thoughts, in the comments.

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